A hundred and twenty-one staff members of the Machakos County Government have been sacked for using fake Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificates to secure employment.
County Secretary Muya Ndambuki said the fake certificates were unearthed following a verification exercise sanctioned by the County Public Service Board for 5,018 county government employees.
“The authentication process carried out by the Kenya National Examination Council found 121 certificates to be invalid. As a county government, we will initiate a process to recover funds paid to the officers,” he said.
Addressing the press on Monday outside the governor’s office, the County Secretary further revealed a validation process for diploma and degree certificates was underway.
“The number of those with fake credentials could rise because the authentication exercise is also expected to unearth anomalies like a mismatch of names,” added Ndambuki.
At the same time, the County Secretary also disclosed that 14 revenue officers have been interdicted for various malpractices related to revenue collection in Mwala Subcounty.
He said the affected revenue officers are culpable for collecting revenue in cash, processing fake licenses, and colluding with business owners to evade payment of permits.
“We have forwarded the cases to the police for further investigations and subsequent prosecution,” said Ndambuki.
By Roselyne Kavoo
